Great video, we had the same issue with wisteria on our new farm. You can leave a branch laying anywhere and it will grow be mindful of what goes into your compost pile and hugel beds! 👨🌾🌞🤙
I promote hugelkultur for a fencing substitute and have mentioned this phenomenon as a plus for those looking to create hedges.. we use wild rose elder willow hawthorn with wood waste to create nice thick screening that lasts way longer than any fence!.
It's probably a good rule of thumb to not put green branches of any kind into a mound. It's just asking for it to sprout. I am making a hugelkultur in large containers, and my choice of fill was to make sure everything was dead, dead, dead. Twigs, leaves, small tiny chunks of branches, all dead.
That is a very smart tip and way funny. My wife threw some in a wash out ditch and several rooted and blocked the ditch. luckily it was easy to dig up. Thanks for sharing
That is a great friggin point.... Poplar and cottonwood could also be an issue. I had a friend cut a bunch of green poplar stakes about 6 feet tall and used them in long term vine planting deal in his yard... Everyone of the stakes grew into a tree. lol
oh yes. found this to be true for a number of plants like brugmansia. what I've done is let the biomass bake in the sun for a summer before using it in Hugel. that had worked so far, even for privet, and even Bermuda grass!
Thank you! We have SO MUCH privet in our yard it's maddening. We have been putting tree trimmings into our raised beds but never privet. Now I know to avoid it.
I live in England. I have a lot of English ivy. I never use it for anything unless it has been dried, killed, covered and composted or preferably burned (I might give biochar a go). I have a grudging respect for it, amazing plant in a lot of ways but it should stay where it belongs, in England. Even over here it takes a lot of work to stop it destroying sheds, houses, cities, fences etc, I can imagine how difficult it must be to control it in the Pacific Northwest.
We have a severe privet hedge problem where I live. It's a non-stop battle keeping it from expanding out of the woods and conquering our lawn. The only time I use privet hedge in hugelkultur is with big pieces that are thoroughly dead and have begun to rot. I avoid the little pieces because it's easy for one of the berries to hide in it.
I've killed some hard to kill plants by cutting them at ground level and then pounding a tin can over the top of the cut stump. This deprives it of all sun. This has killed everything. Eventually the tin cans will rust out and return to soil, or, you can dig them up after a year or so - just to make sure what you wanted to kill is dead. Restaurant dumpsters often have large tin cans in them - or you can ask the staff to save them for you. Good luck!
I've killed some hard to kill plants by cutting them at ground level and then pounding a tin can over the top of the cut stump. This deprives it of all sun. This has killed everything. Eventually the tin cans will rust out and return to soil, or, you can dig them up after a year or so - just to make sure what you wanted to kill is dead.
Thanks.. about to begin my 1st raised bed in Hugle style and appreciate the reminder as this was already on my mind and Yes, we have this bush you pointed out.. unless it is allowed to dry it will sprout quickly in damp soil.. thanks again and maybe try a chipper if you're in a hurry .
I've killed some hard to kill plants by cutting them at ground level and then pounding a tin can over the top of the cut stump. This deprives it of all sun. This has killed everything. Eventually the tin cans will rust out and return to soil, or, you can dig them up after a year or so - just to make sure what you wanted to kill is dead.
Building my first hugelkultur bed and was thinking of putting in logs from a tree we cut down, as well as photinia trimmings. I think I'll let them die good and dead over the summer and save them or next Spring. Thanks for the reminder. Your frustration is palpable.
Texas prepper 2 feeds privit to sheep. We both have hair sheep and they are not picky. Great channel. Watched all your video's. I wished I had watched you fruit tree shapping for grafts video before I did my fall pruning. I will definitely do that in the future.
Good advice. I haven't had that particular problem but I DID use a bunch of nice straight (privet) sticks as plant markers. They continued to grow very well (better than the 'marked' plants).
I'd recommend getting a wood chipper for the homestead. Stuff like that will get spit out the other end and fry increments and if you leave it out for a few days for it to dry probably won't have big of a problem
Darn!! I just built my first Hugelkulture two weeks ago but didn't know about this privet problem. I hope I didn't dump any in my pile. I went around the neighborhood and gathered piles of sticks, stems and other wood to use. Hopefully, there wasn't any privet in it. Thanks for this video.
I am using this method for the first time. Good to know. Thank You! I will let my invasive Algerian Ivy dry before adding to my beds. I have always composted the Ivy with no problems but if it gets hold I'll have one hot mess to deal with
Came across your video looking up hugelkulture ideas. I see someone else mentioned it a bit but it sounds like cooking that sort of thing down to biochar / charcoal would be an idea to use it faster and be sure it wouldn't threaten the bed.
I have this stuff here at my farm in Texas. Crazy invasive. A & M University had a study on it that suggested doing as you're doing, pull it up by the roots, dry it, and they advised also chipping it. That is the only natural control, after that, it is herbicide.
I just pulled up raspberry bushes that weren't doing anything because of the dry year. I was going to start a mound with them but after watching your video, I think I am going to stack them and let them dry out and then put them in a mound in the spring. Thanks for the alert.
Thank you! Or, is youtube watching me night and day? I just started sawing off shoots from the fence line today and I have no idea what the shrub type things are but they grow very well on their own. I have some little ditches I was going to throw everything into and then plant on top with the original soil in a mound. Glad I watched this. The only reason I didn't throw them in the ditch already is I was thinking I could use the woody ones to make a DIY cucumber trellis.
Ohhhh, let me laugh with you. My first year in the garden-so excited by the first « seeds » that came up, I lovingly transplanting them all over, watered them faithfully, and eventually discovered that my first sprouts were actually just WEEDS. Bah, Replanted Rhizomes? I’ll raise you Transplanted Weeds!
privett stunt matches my dumb stunt of cuttin down a crape myrtle, tossed it in empty raised bed to dry out. i thot dead enough, so covered with thick cardboard, LOTS OF NEW bagged soil, planted seeds and sat back to await the veggies! came over other day to start pulling out the veg bushes and...yep, a bucket load of baby crape myrtle shoots. i am currently digging out 2' deep by 10' long bed of dirt and sifting into bins to store til i get this mess cleaned out. also finding thin thickets of roots grown thru the 2 layers of ground cloth i lined bed with. there was never anything but grass in this spot so i'm concerned the crapes are now in the ground. premo prep job but really messed up using the crape myrtle as filler. the growth is on the largest branches, not the thin limbs, so maybe it just wasnt quite dead. used a ton of cardboard. some real nice dirt at the bottom tho!!!
The man is holding up a zombie branch. Just when you think its dead and gonna begin rotting in your Hugelkultur, it starts growing lil limbs trying to rise from the ground 😳.
Yep. I made that mistake too, except not with privot, but with a huge old grapevine that never grew grapes but had massive green growth that totally covered & was smothering every bush, small tree & plant in my large front garden. (The grapevine was here when I moved in),. So I cut the grapevine into small pieces & filled one tall raised garden bed with it , then covered it with soil & compost & planted passionfruit vines etc there. A few months later I had many new useless grapevines growing up everywhere out of the raised garden bed because many of the pieces of grapevine stalk grew roots, & it began overtaking my passionfuit vine & the top half of everythinng growing in that garden bed. Apparently only the pieces that werent buried deep under soill/compost etc grew. So also make sure you cover your prunings with lots of soil/compost etc I had to dig out all the plants & empty out the the top half of the raised garden bed. It really surprised me this would happen with grapevines, but Ive had no trouble with filling all my other raised garden beds with old branches & greenery prunings. So just be careful what U bury under the soil AND how deep you bury it.
Can they be soaked in a tub of acidic water to a pickle first? By the way the same with Mexican verbena brush cuttings you cannot use in the hugelmount. They would grow so fast and chokehold you when you walk by. I tried getting rid of an ash tree stump about 15" diameter by inoculating it with oyster mushroom spawn dowels and It gave us some edible mushrooms every fall.
Hay from Slovenia Europa ! We are ej smal country with 2.000. 000 people. It is forbiden to grow and seed any invazive flovers, trees or bushes here. Goverment chek everything by small plains, and even few damage trees in our big forest must be cut down and remuve or else you pay a big money. Last year it was 650m3 just from us. Every year also children from schools help to destroy invazive bushes and flovers oround area. Lots of us are living above 1000m above sea level. You cant even build what ever you want, as in Amerika wooden houses in forest and have a farm of goats to destroy the woods. My invazive plant in the garden is mint hahaaa... but its not forbiden. Love and kisses from Slovenia.
I'd cut it down, sheet mulch over the stump with cardboard and throw a tarp over the cuttings. I've thought about planting Russian Olive as a nitrogen fixer, and I still may but they are considered invasive in this area. I've got two hugelkultur mounds in their first year. I put a ton of wildflower seeds and bush beans in with the intention of sheet mulching in the fall. We've had so much rain they look like chia pets.
Hi, I'm making a hugel bed from Willow sticks and logs, here in Holland. If you put a willow stick in the ground, it'll become a tree again, so probably facing the same problem. Does anyone know how long I should let the wood dry before I can cover it up? Sawed it a few months ago and it feels pretty dry now...
Hi Clint, I'm considering a Hugelkultur section of my garden for next year and so I appreciate the tip. How about fir trees. I'm taking down a tree damaged in a storm and I've always heard the needles were too acidic for soil. Thanks from Chicago!
Don’t know about fir trees. Thinking the fir might be a cousin to the cedar and you for sure don’t want to use cedar. Also walnut is especially bad. The best is sycamore (if you can find it). The reason for sycamore is: it is a soft wood and would not recommend hickory, oak or hedge because they’re really hard and take forever to break down.
What did you do and how did it turn out? I'm in the Chicago suburbs. There are a few plants that like acidic soil, such as rhododendrons and azaleas. But they don't need hugelkultur beds, lol.
Chinese privet and bittersweet vine are two of the most invasive species (other than kudzu) that I have dealt with, here in the South. When it comes to the privet, I chip the small stuff and put it in my humus pile, and the bigger stuff gets burned.
The main thing is to make sure the branches are dead and dried out. I've stacked larger branches in the fall and when spring came the the branches were growing leaves because there enough moisture retained in the pile.
After watching a CZcams vid about taking hardwood cuttings, putting them in a bottle and getting them to root just w/ a little water - and then using some green wood as stakes and having them leaf out just months later - I've realized I probably need to just use wood that's dried over several seasons. 😳 I think Mulberry is def one of these types of trees/woods you'd want to watch out for....
That's a very important point. Should really only use branches and trunks of trees, the rest should be turned into bio char or embers and then applied.
I, too, fight the privette wars!! They just seem to like to grow just where you don't want them. Gotta get ALL of the roots out of the ground, otherwise it turns into a nurse stump with more privettes than you started with. Good luck!
I live in W.Tn, and in my system ligustrum has given me the same issue, this stuff is nearly as bad as bermuda grass! I cut several lengths of ligustrum to make posts for a wattle fence....and now those posts have rooted and now have to be pulled up. I essentially made a living, invasive fence! It was definately a hard lesson learned...not all biomass is suited for the same purposes
Well I would chop it down then let it bake in the sun until it’s dried up and 100% dead or maybe soak it in water until it’s starting to rot just an idea 💡
I've killed some hard to kill plants by cutting them at ground level and then pounding a tin can over the top of the cut stump. This deprives it of all sun. This has killed everything. Eventually the tin cans will rust out and return to soil, or, you can dig them up after a year or so - just to make sure what you wanted to kill is dead.
Just put only dried bushes to hugelkultur sites. It is invasive or not is not important. Also if you make compost, only use dry bush or wood chips, otherwise they can consume the nutrients in compost while trying to survive, at the end they will die but your time is valuable too.
Most plants will die if you cut them off at the surface. I go through my garden, granted its a small garden, and use a hoe and to cut everything off right at the surface. All the weeds evebtually die. works great.
This method would not work with plants such as artemisia. It spreads via the roots. The tiniest remnant of a root left in the soil can cause a whole new plant to come up.
I also have privet. Here is what I did to kill it. I cut it to the ground, let it sprout back about a 6" to a foot, then sprayed it with used cooking oil and roundup at 3:1, shaking as it is bring sprayed. I used cooking oil because I was told by the extension folks in Georgia to use desil oil, but that will not eventually decompose since it is not natural. Cooking oil is natural so it should decompose over time. Next, I will try streight white vinegar mixed with epsom salt and a teaspoon of dish detergent. This is not so harsh on things as roundup and it does kill weeds. Whether it will kill sprouting privet is another thing to find out. Blessings, Russ
Roundup is a known toxin which is being banned in Europe and we're TRYING to ban it in U.S. - big battle with Monsanto. Please don't use it for your own health and the long term health of the soil.
Kill it with fire! You might be able to get rid of it by cutting it down and then covering it with something like adark plastic for a few years. But burning it in a barrell and using the ashes instead could work. Also it would be interesting to know if shredding it would create chips that doesn´t grow.
I've killed some hard to kill plants by cutting them at ground level and then pounding a tin can over the top of the cut stump. This deprives it of all sun. This has killed everything. Eventually the tin cans will rust out and return to soil, or, you can dig them up after a year or so - just to make sure what you wanted to kill is dead.
privat (called yopon in Louisiana) is some nasty stuff. if you burn it and and breath the smoke or eat anthing cooked on the fire itll give you HORRIBLE diarrhea.
this is the kind of youtube post that makes youtube worth having
Hear, hear!
Turn it in to charcoal and then make biochar. Easiest thing to do with any woody material.
sly2kusa too bad I live in a city and cannot burn things in my yard without alerting the fire department!
Thats the nice way of saying .."Kill it with fire " ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Great video, we had the same issue with wisteria on our new farm. You can leave a branch laying anywhere and it will grow be mindful of what goes into your compost pile and hugel beds! 👨🌾🌞🤙
I promote hugelkultur for a fencing substitute and have mentioned this phenomenon as a plus for those looking to create hedges.. we use wild rose elder willow hawthorn with wood waste to create nice thick screening that lasts way longer than any fence!.
Roxanne Sterling-Falkenstein
Just Curious, what type of plant would you plant for your fence?
Roxanne Sterling-Falkenstein
What type of fence are you thinking of?
Brilliant
It's probably a good rule of thumb to not put green branches of any kind into a mound. It's just asking for it to sprout. I am making a hugelkultur in large containers, and my choice of fill was to make sure everything was dead, dead, dead. Twigs, leaves, small tiny chunks of branches, all dead.
That is a very smart tip and way funny. My wife threw some in a wash out ditch and several rooted and blocked the ditch. luckily it was easy to dig up. Thanks for sharing
That is a great friggin point.... Poplar and cottonwood could also be an issue. I had a friend cut a bunch of green poplar stakes about 6 feet tall and used them in long term vine planting deal in his yard... Everyone of the stakes grew into a tree. lol
arrgh! i just did exactly that. only not stakes but rather green branchs in the bottom of my beds .
oh yes. found this to be true for a number of plants like brugmansia.
what I've done is let the biomass bake in the sun for a summer before using it in Hugel.
that had worked so far, even for privet, and even Bermuda grass!
Yep... baking in the sun.... i actually farming morning glory this way to produce lots of biomass.
Kyzus Enillikeenge wow! Creative!
Even Bermuda grass?! IMPOSSIBLE!
@@reichenkeller7538lol! Even the devil can be contained in the right box
@@SkotColacicco I'm still having trouble believing it.
Thank you! We have SO MUCH privet in our yard it's maddening. We have been putting tree trimmings into our raised beds but never privet. Now I know to avoid it.
I live in England. I have a lot of English ivy. I never use it for anything unless it has been dried, killed, covered and composted or preferably burned (I might give biochar a go). I have a grudging respect for it, amazing plant in a lot of ways but it should stay where it belongs, in England. Even over here it takes a lot of work to stop it destroying sheds, houses, cities, fences etc, I can imagine how difficult it must be to control it in the Pacific Northwest.
include in the list of don't add to your hugelkulture, cottonwood - it does the same thing
and black walnut that has something in it that kills plants
Clark Griffeth Juglone. I don't know how it's pronounced but that's what Black Walnuts make to kill competitors.
add forsythia to the "do not use" list!.
Cottonwood a great wood to use. Just don't use fresh wood of any kind.
Alellopathy. Sunflowers sometimes have this effect. I had to stop putting them in my compost.
Wow!! Very informative info about invasive species. Thanks!!
We have a severe privet hedge problem where I live. It's a non-stop battle keeping it from expanding out of the woods and conquering our lawn. The only time I use privet hedge in hugelkultur is with big pieces that are thoroughly dead and have begun to rot. I avoid the little pieces because it's easy for one of the berries to hide in it.
I've killed some hard to kill plants by cutting them at ground level and then pounding a tin can over the top of the cut stump. This deprives it of all sun. This has killed everything. Eventually the tin cans will rust out and return to soil, or, you can dig them up after a year or so - just to make sure what you wanted to kill is dead. Restaurant dumpsters often have large tin cans in them - or you can ask the staff to save them for you. Good luck!
Privet is exotic invasive and it trips my "Kill!!" switch. It throws seeds everywhere AND sends out roots to form new shrubs.
I've killed some hard to kill plants by cutting them at ground level and then pounding a tin can over the top of the cut stump. This deprives it of all sun. This has killed everything. Eventually the tin cans will rust out and return to soil, or, you can dig them up after a year or so - just to make sure what you wanted to kill is dead.
Mark Welsch Genius.
Thanks.. about to begin my 1st raised bed in Hugle style and appreciate the reminder as this was already on my mind and Yes, we have this bush you pointed out.. unless it is allowed to dry it will sprout quickly in damp soil.. thanks again and maybe try a chipper if you're in a hurry .
I've killed some hard to kill plants by cutting them at ground level and then pounding a tin can over the top of the cut stump. This deprives it of all sun. This has killed everything. Eventually the tin cans will rust out and return to soil, or, you can dig them up after a year or so - just to make sure what you wanted to kill is dead.
Great tip! Will keep that in mind!
Great tip! I hadn't thought f this but there are probably other plants that cause the same problem. Thank you!
Building my first hugelkultur bed and was thinking of putting in logs from a tree we cut down, as well as photinia trimmings. I think I'll let them die good and dead over the summer and save them or next Spring.
Thanks for the reminder. Your frustration is palpable.
Great tip...I never realized that...Thanks
Texas prepper 2 feeds privit to sheep. We both have hair sheep and they are not picky. Great channel. Watched all your video's. I wished I had watched you fruit tree shapping for grafts video before I did my fall pruning. I will definitely do that in the future.
Thanks for the heads up!!
Good advice. I haven't had that particular problem but I DID use a bunch of nice straight (privet) sticks as plant markers. They continued to grow very well (better than the 'marked' plants).
thank you for you advice!
I'd recommend getting a wood chipper for the homestead. Stuff like that will get spit out the other end and fry increments and if you leave it out for a few days for it to dry probably won't have big of a problem
Helpful info. Thank you.
Darn!! I just built my first Hugelkulture two weeks ago but didn't know about this privet problem. I hope I didn't dump any in my pile. I went around the neighborhood and gathered piles of sticks, stems and other wood to use. Hopefully, there wasn't any privet in it. Thanks for this video.
Very interesting, thank you. Subbed!
I am using this method for the first time. Good to know. Thank You! I will let my invasive Algerian Ivy dry before adding to my beds. I have always composted the Ivy with no problems but if it gets hold I'll have one hot mess to deal with
Simple solution to using such material. Pile them up to dry before using them in the garden bed.
Came across your video looking up hugelkulture ideas. I see someone else mentioned it a bit but it sounds like cooking that sort of thing down to biochar / charcoal would be an idea to use it faster and be sure it wouldn't threaten the bed.
Thank you for this.
Good to know.
I've had this happen with certain plants so i let them dry out first.
Works with English ivy
Excellent advise! This country girl knows about privy all too well.
great advice! Our issue is with Mountain Laurel. Good grief, that stuff just doesn't die!
Great advice. I also have Chinese privet. It is horribly difficult to get rid of.
Thanks! I'm not sure I would have considered this!
in Florida we have ear pod trees that will sprout from cut logs. there's about a half dozen other invasive exotics as well.
I have this stuff here at my farm in Texas. Crazy invasive. A & M University had a study on it that suggested doing as you're doing, pull it up by the roots, dry it, and they advised also chipping it. That is the only natural control, after that, it is herbicide.
I just pulled up raspberry bushes that weren't doing anything because of the dry year. I was going to start a mound with them but after watching your video, I think I am going to stack them and let them dry out and then put them in a mound in the spring. Thanks for the alert.
thanks for the advise
I've done the same thing! Buried some old sticks to add biomass under mulch walkway and the dang things rooted and started growing.
Thank you! Or, is youtube watching me night and day? I just started sawing off shoots from the fence line today and I have no idea what the shrub type things are but they grow very well on their own. I have some little ditches I was going to throw everything into and then plant on top with the original soil in a mound. Glad I watched this. The only reason I didn't throw them in the ditch already is I was thinking I could use the woody ones to make a DIY cucumber trellis.
Great advice. I've been warned, thanking you.
Ohhhh, let me laugh with you. My first year in the garden-so excited by the first « seeds » that came up, I lovingly transplanting them all over, watered them faithfully, and eventually discovered that my first sprouts were actually just WEEDS. Bah, Replanted Rhizomes? I’ll raise you Transplanted Weeds!
Thank you
I have read or seen somewhere that one should avoid PINE in the hugelculture. Is that right?
privett stunt matches my dumb stunt of cuttin down a crape myrtle, tossed it in empty raised bed to dry out. i thot dead enough, so covered with thick cardboard, LOTS OF NEW bagged soil, planted seeds and sat back to await the veggies! came over other day to start pulling out the veg bushes and...yep, a bucket load of baby crape myrtle shoots. i am currently digging out 2' deep by 10' long bed of dirt and sifting into bins to store til i get this mess cleaned out. also finding thin thickets of roots grown thru the 2 layers of ground cloth i lined bed with. there was never anything but grass in this spot so i'm concerned the crapes are now in the ground. premo prep job but really messed up using the crape myrtle as filler. the growth is on the largest branches, not the thin limbs, so maybe it just wasnt quite dead. used a ton of cardboard. some real nice dirt at the bottom tho!!!
The man is holding up a zombie branch. Just when you think its dead and gonna begin rotting in your Hugelkultur, it starts growing lil limbs trying to rise from the ground 😳.
Yep. I made that mistake too, except not with privot, but with a huge old grapevine that never grew grapes but had massive green growth that totally covered & was smothering every bush, small tree & plant in my large front garden. (The grapevine was here when I moved in),. So I cut the grapevine into small pieces & filled one tall raised garden bed with it , then covered it with soil & compost & planted passionfruit vines etc there. A few months later I had many new useless grapevines growing up everywhere out of the raised garden bed because many of the pieces of grapevine stalk grew roots, & it began overtaking my passionfuit vine & the top half of everythinng growing in that garden bed. Apparently only the pieces that werent buried deep under soill/compost etc grew. So also make sure you cover your prunings with lots of soil/compost etc I had to dig out all the plants & empty out the the top half of the raised garden bed. It really surprised me this would happen with grapevines, but Ive had no trouble with filling all my other raised garden beds with old branches & greenery prunings. So just be careful what U bury under the soil AND how deep you bury it.
Do you think shredding it would of solved the problem?
Can they be soaked in a tub of acidic water to a pickle first? By the way the same with Mexican verbena brush cuttings you cannot use in the hugelmount. They would grow so fast and chokehold you when you walk by. I tried getting rid of an ash tree stump about 15" diameter by inoculating it with oyster mushroom spawn dowels and It gave us some edible mushrooms every fall.
Hay from Slovenia Europa ! We are ej smal country with 2.000. 000 people. It is forbiden to grow and seed any invazive flovers, trees or bushes here. Goverment chek everything by small plains, and even few damage trees in our big forest must be cut down and remuve or else you pay a big money. Last year it was 650m3 just from us. Every year also children from schools help to destroy invazive bushes and flovers oround area. Lots of us are living above 1000m above sea level. You cant even build what ever you want, as in Amerika wooden houses in forest and have a farm of goats to destroy the woods. My invazive plant in the garden is mint hahaaa... but its not forbiden. Love and kisses from Slovenia.
Are you in GA too?
What about pothos clippings? Are they suitable for compost or hugelkultur beds?
I'd cut it down, sheet mulch over the stump with cardboard and throw a tarp over the cuttings. I've thought about planting Russian Olive as a nitrogen fixer, and I still may but they are considered invasive in this area.
I've got two hugelkultur mounds in their first year. I put a ton of wildflower seeds and bush beans in with the intention of sheet mulching in the fall. We've had so much rain they look like chia pets.
Hi, I'm making a hugel bed from Willow sticks and logs, here in Holland. If you put a willow stick in the ground, it'll become a tree again, so probably facing the same problem. Does anyone know how long I should let the wood dry before I can cover it up? Sawed it a few months ago and it feels pretty dry now...
Hi Clint, I'm considering a Hugelkultur section of my garden for next year and so I appreciate the tip. How about fir trees. I'm taking down a tree damaged in a storm and I've always heard the needles were too acidic for soil. Thanks from Chicago!
Don’t know about fir trees. Thinking the fir might be a cousin to the cedar and you for sure don’t want to use cedar. Also walnut is especially bad. The best is sycamore (if you can find it). The reason for sycamore is: it is a soft wood and would not recommend hickory, oak or hedge because they’re really hard and take forever to break down.
What did you do and how did it turn out? I'm in the Chicago suburbs. There are a few plants that like acidic soil, such as rhododendrons and azaleas. But they don't need hugelkultur beds, lol.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!
Chinese privet and bittersweet vine are two of the most invasive species (other than kudzu) that I have dealt with, here in the South. When it comes to the privet, I chip the small stuff and put it in my humus pile, and the bigger stuff gets burned.
The main thing is to make sure the branches are dead and dried out. I've stacked larger branches in the fall and when spring came the the branches were growing leaves because there enough moisture retained in the pile.
What if you boil it?
After watching a CZcams vid about taking hardwood cuttings, putting them in a bottle and getting them to root just w/ a little water - and then using some green wood as stakes and having them leaf out just months later - I've realized I probably need to just use wood that's dried over several seasons. 😳 I think Mulberry is def one of these types of trees/woods you'd want to watch out for....
And here I am trying to grow mulberry trees......
@@yellowbird5411 just make sure the trees are female and not near anything you don't want destroyed by roots
my neighbor planted in ON the property line..and now its invade 35 feet of my front yard/side yard, we cant park in my own drive way..hate the stuff
That's a very important point. Should really only use branches and trunks of trees, the rest should be turned into bio char or embers and then applied.
Make a rocket stove and burn all those sticks when cooking your meals
I can barely hear you on this one. But, I appreciate your advice.
he looks mad about it at the end lol
I, too, fight the privette wars!!
They just seem to like to grow just where you don't want them. Gotta get ALL of the roots out of the ground, otherwise it turns into a nurse stump with more privettes than you started with.
Good luck!
I live in W.Tn, and in my system ligustrum has given me the same issue, this stuff is nearly as bad as bermuda grass! I cut several lengths of ligustrum to make posts for a wattle fence....and now those posts have rooted and now have to be pulled up. I essentially made a living, invasive fence! It was definately a hard lesson learned...not all biomass is suited for the same purposes
I believe ligustrum is privet. Sorry about your fence.
thanks i ve got goats and they are a problem lol im sure they have a key to the gate
Would Hugelkultur beds be good for growing strawberries in? How about onions? Thank you.
Mike Pellerin strawberries will do great. as long as you have some soft top layer on the soil onions will do well too!
Well I would chop it down then let it bake in the sun until it’s dried up and 100% dead or maybe soak it in water until it’s starting to rot just an idea 💡
Good advise.....reminds me I have a wisteria that rears it’s ugly head all over my yard. Maybe hugelkultur not a good idea for me. Thanks
marzy Marrz just make sure it is total dead. Don't give up on method, just be smart.
Wisteria ugly? Sounds like a good "problem" to have.
Made that mistake in my first hugelkulture. Used tree of heaven and really regretted it.
I've killed some hard to kill plants by cutting them at ground level and then pounding a tin can over the top of the cut stump. This deprives it of all sun. This has killed everything. Eventually the tin cans will rust out and return to soil, or, you can dig them up after a year or so - just to make sure what you wanted to kill is dead.
This happened to me with fruitless mulberry tree cuttings. What a pain to remove it!
Think of any hardwood cuttings one is putting into a potential growing medium as a live hardwood cutting. Make sure woody waste is dead.
good warning!
Just put only dried bushes to hugelkultur sites. It is invasive or not is not important. Also if you make compost, only use dry bush or wood chips, otherwise they can consume the nutrients in compost while trying to survive, at the end they will die but your time is valuable too.
Privet, aaaarrrrggggh! But chipping the Privet may be enough to stop it from growing.
Also, hickory fence posts have been known to regrow trees.
Like trumpet vine!
Biochar??
What about cedar? I’m clearing land and have cedar coming out of the yazoo
GiveRegard2 Truth I don't think you will have them same issue with cedar, but let it dry out before you add to soil to be sure.
That Chinese privet is insane.
Sounds like bamboo. My dad planted some when I wasn't home and it took me 4 years to get rid of the majority of it! Still a battle tho😥
Good to know
1. Wait till the branches completely dry out and die. OR 2. Burn in and make biochar.
Be sure it is not green or it might grow!
Most plants will die if you cut them off at the surface. I go through my garden, granted its a small garden, and use a hoe and to cut everything off right at the surface. All the weeds evebtually die. works great.
This method would not work with plants such as artemisia. It spreads via the roots. The tiniest remnant of a root left in the soil can cause a whole new plant to come up.
You could turn it all into biochar and still get the biomass to add to your soils.
Damn ---- you beat me to it.
I also have privet. Here is what I did to kill it. I cut it to the ground, let it sprout back about a 6" to a foot, then sprayed it with used cooking oil and roundup at 3:1, shaking as it is bring sprayed. I used cooking oil because I was told by the extension folks in Georgia to use desil oil, but that will not eventually decompose since it is not natural. Cooking oil is natural so it should decompose over time. Next, I will try streight white vinegar mixed with epsom salt and a teaspoon of dish detergent. This is not so harsh on things as roundup and it does kill weeds. Whether it will kill sprouting privet is another thing to find out. Blessings, Russ
Roundup is a known toxin which is being banned in Europe and we're TRYING to ban it in U.S. - big battle with Monsanto. Please don't use it for your own health and the long term health of the soil.
Kill it with fire! You might be able to get rid of it by cutting it down and then covering it with something like adark plastic for a few years. But burning it in a barrell and using the ashes instead could work. Also it would be interesting to know if shredding it would create chips that doesn´t grow.
I've killed some hard to kill plants by cutting them at ground level and then pounding a tin can over the top of the cut stump. This deprives it of all sun. This has killed everything. Eventually the tin cans will rust out and return to soil, or, you can dig them up after a year or so - just to make sure what you wanted to kill is dead.
bingoberra18 I grew poplars from chips, wouldn't risk it
Hahaha thanks for the experience, if you chip it or shred it it might not be as dangerous
sounds like you need to give in and get the goats. maybe mini goats.
Common sense... Make biochar with invasive plant biomass, not raised beds
privat (called yopon in Louisiana) is some nasty stuff. if you burn it and and breath the smoke or eat anthing cooked on the fire itll give you HORRIBLE diarrhea.
+navrenscafidi ty for this bit was j ust thinking b urning it fot the ash might be doable Now ill have to rethink that good and long
my rabbits like that stuff
Our goats eat it a little bit, enough to keep it at bay. It is invasive, most things labeled as such isn't hogwash, they will take over
My luck, I would put kudzu in it.
Easy to get the rhizome Bermuda grass into a bed.
Be careful with willow and yucca as well.